'Idol's' Loewenstern releases his first single on iTunes

"No more bringing me down, I'm shutting you out…" sings Boca's "American Idol" contestant Brett Loewenstern in "Look at Me Now," his new single on iTunes.

Written in Nashville with two collaborators, it's in the blues category, but with a rocking back beat it's more pop than blues. Loewenstern is happy with it.

"I was bullied as a kid growing up and the song is about a sense of victory. A lot of people didn't want to be my friend," said Loewenstern, 18, who's finishing up his Spanish River High School senior year online.

He made anti-bullying his theme on the 10th season of "American Idol," when he took sides with one of the other performers. His song "Bulletproof Vest" was an anthem of his childhood experience, so this is a natural progression, about a performer who finds success and then everybody wants to be his friend.

"I think this song is going to be the next step for Brett. 'Bulletproof Vest' is introspective, and 'Look at Me Now' is done in a very upbeat way," said his father, Elliot Loewenstern, who manages his career.

The family lives in West Boca, and when they returned from the "Idol" experience, Elliot decided to keep his son performing locally to perfect his stage presence and self-confidence. It has paid off.

The soft-spoken redhead went from performing at the seven-inning stretch at a Marlins game to sharing the stage with his own idol Shontelle at Think Pink Rocks, a hip-hop benefit concert in the Mizner Park Amphitheater. Their duet of her "Impossible" is on YouTube. He also just did the Clarence Clemons Tribute benefit and performed at the Maccabi Games in Israel.

He sang "Look at Me Now" at Think Pink Rocks and the Wyland Green Living Fair, and said the audience reaction was very positive. So he's working on a few other songs, hopes to release an EP, and is promoting his single and hopes for some airplay.

Although he loves to perform the song himself, he would welcome covers and see where things go from there "when opportunities present themselves," he said.

In the fall he'll be a freshman at Berklee College of Music in Boston, where he got a scholarship. "If anything came out of the 'Idol' experience, he can go to Berklee for four years and get grounded in the music business," his father said.

"I'm really happy because that's one of the schools of my choice," Brett said.

Releasing his first single is a milestone for Loewenstern, who still has a few gigs here before he leaves for New England in the fall. "I feel it's amazing to release my music, and I can really reach for the stars. I want to reach out and touch people with my music," he said.